Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer Blog

As an experienced Philadelphia personal injury and unfair insurance claims practice lawyer since 1979, it seems to me that the insurance companies will stop at nothing to intimidate plaintiffs even when the plaintiff is their own insured. I am currently involved in several unfair and bad faith insurance claims cases where the actions of the insurance companies have been unethical and seemingly criminal. In one of these cases, an insured who was catastrophically injured was repeatedly intimidated by insurance company claims investigators, insurance company attorneys and insurance company claims representatives to the point of requiring psychiatric intervention. Of course, what the insurance company adjuster failed to recognize is that all of these “boxing gloves strategy actions” against its own policyholder benefited the plaintiff’s bad faith action and made the plaintiff’s case stronger in the hands of a lawyer with experience in bad faith insurance litigation.

Unfortunately with many companies, unless you accept the initial or continuing low ball settlement offers, which is often not enough to pay medical bills or wages, the posture becomes more aggressive at every step as the insurance companies attempt to deny claims at any and all costs. While I make my living fighting insurance companies, it always amazes me that if insurance companies would attempt to fight fairly from the beginning, in the majority of cases an amicable resolution could be achieved. In most bad faith cases, the insurance company goes to extreme lengths to avoid paying claims and often they are not shy about using aggressive lawyers, unfair claims handling tactics, and the courts to their own advantage in attempting to stack the deck.

In one of our recent cases, intense discovery revealed obvious and intentional misrepresentation by the insurance adjuster representing the insurance company. Our client, a successful business person, was astounded when the company would not pay full benefits under the policy he purchased. He claimed to have many sleepless nights and in fact, went to see his cardiologist who told him that he had suffered an anxiety disorder and stress syndrome as a result of the insurance company’s activities.

Most people are not equipped to combat the insurance companies on their own and the first time you find yourself being low balled by an insurance adjuster, it would be wise to get an experienced unfair insurance claims and bad faith insurance attorney involved who has the experience and tools necessary to fight back aggressively.

Hats off to an Arizona jury who sent a loud and clear message to Met Life for refusing to cover the claim of Kenneth and Tammy Nardeli whose Ford Explorer was stolen from a Mesa, Arizona shopping mall and found abandoned and severely damaged weeks later in Mexico. Although the Nardelis said the vehicle was a total loss and could never be restored to its original condition, Met Life refused to replace the car and instead issued them a check for $10,759.00 while stopping payments for their rental car. Richard Gillenberg, the attorney for the Nardelis, stated that Met Life was determined to boost profits within its Warwick, RI based auto and home division and that the company told its adjusters to get tough on claims. The lawsuit accused Met Life of a deliberate scheme to deny the Nardelis their rights under their insurance policy.

The Philadelphia unfair insurance practices law firm and bad faith insurance law firm of Reiff and Bily is all too familiar with tactics such as these and currently have cases in litigation against insurance companies who place profits before policyholders’ interests and breach the fiduciary obligation to deal in good faith.

Unfortunately, seemingly the motto at many insurance companies in this country is deny, delay and defend until the insured cries uncle or hires a lawyer with enough gumption and strength to take them on. Even then, the insurance companies throw road blocks in their way and as one of our recent cases will attest, they will take some of the most unconscionable steps imaginable to prevent an insured from recovering full benefits under the policy that they paid for with their hard earned dollars.

If you or a loved one is the victim of an insurance company’s unfair claims practice or a bad faith dispute or believe that your insurance company is not treating you fairly, please contact one of our experienced unfair insurance claim practices or bad faith insurance lawyers for a free consultation.

As an experienced insurance claims lawyer who has been litigating bad faith and unfair insurance claims practice since 1979 in conjunction with our catastrophic injury law practice, I have seen that insurance companies have increasingly taken a deny, delay, defend posture with even the most valid and clearest of insurance claims. Many times this arises as a potentially nightmarish situation for the insured as they have paid their premiums and been profitably exploited by the insurance company. Unfortunately most individuals lack the experience or know-how to fight the large insurance company who believes that the insured will back down or be intimidated and settle for cents on the true dollar value of their claim.

In our unfair insurance claims practice we have noticed an increased amount of unfair practices, bad faith, and outright fraud on behalf of the insurance companies. We have been filing bad faith claims against these insurance companies claiming they are breaching their contract with their insured and it is only when these cases start to heat up that the representatives of the company at a corporate level start to pay attention.

All insurance companies owe their insured a fiduciary obligation to act in good faith.

In many cases, insurance companies have hidden relationships with third party administrators or reinsurers while engaged in a back room “fight” with the separate entities pointing the finger at each other which unfortunately comes at the expense of the insured. In many of these cases, we have been able to determine that false information was supplied to one of the hidden third parties in applications or documents whereas the insured was kept in the dark and ultimately successful in a courtroom proceeding. It is important that if you are wrongfully denied a claim by your insurance carrier or you are not offered fair value for your claim, that you fight back and never, never give up.

The unfair insurance claims practices lawyers and bad faith insurance lawyers of Reiff and Bily are committed to protecting consumers wrongfully injured by the deny, delay, defend tactics of insurance companies.